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Check in: How are you feeling coming off that Full Moon and being immersed in Pisces season?
This month’s Full Moon is the smallest moon of the year as it is currently the farthest from the earth. Also known as the Snow moon, this moon reminds us that Winter is still here (even in the places where the sun is shining and temps are rising). Yet the solar Pisces energy is feeling expansive. It’s an interesting combo. So I ask again, How are you feeling? What are you noticing? I made a point this weekend to be outside with the welcome sunshine and hiked and ran local trails and did a bit of tidying in the yard (it still needs so much more tending). I noticed yesterday that I couldn’t even bring myself to turn on my computer and I barely touched my phone. My connection to the natural world felt so much more at the forefront and I’m walking into this week the better for it. When was the last time you took a break from your devices? The idea of disconnecting sounds amazing in theory. Yet when your phone has become your course for music, your camera and your map, turning it off can be a challenge (at least for me). This weekend I was reminded that when I’m really present I don’t always feel like I need to document everything (some things sure, but not everything), that the sounds of nature are preferable to a podcast or music (for me), and that even with a map you can still get lost (true story). So step outside, discover something new (or familiar) and find your wild. Community This moon and Pisces and time outdoors gave me some time for being, and dreaming. It also opened me to the deeper longing I’ve been feeling for in person ceremony. This magick has been greatly missing from my life for quite some time. So Friday I started a plan to host a new moon ceremony with a few friends and I’m grateful that it is coming together even if the date is a couple weeks off. Without the container of a coven it can be difficult to cultivate regular ritual in community. And without some structure and planning of the container, it can also lose its form over time. In 20 years of creating magick within a group I learned a lot of things. Including knowing when to hold on tight and when something has ended. As Veronica pointed out to me when we were reflecting about our history of working in a group together, there is always more to learn. Community Crafting for Covens and Circles, is a collection of the things I have learned (and am learning) about being in a magical group. In this hour and a half class, we will discuss the nuts and bolts of starting a coven or circle, as well as some considerations and common pitfalls. Join me March 8th and prepare to craft your own community. Learn more and register here
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I am tired.
Are you tired too? As Winter wears on and the rains continue I feel the pull (a need) to rest. Yet to be honest I’m not great at resting. I am full of the sense of responsibility and the need to “show up”. So even though I know and understand the sacred value of rest, I am not fully dropping in and letting myself have it. Even as I encourage clients, friends and all of you, to allow yourselves the gift of quiet and repose, I keep pushing forward. (“It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me”) Some of it is circumstantial (dealing with my mother in laws estate and the deadlines there, an unexpected vet visit or two), and some of it is self imposed (over-scheduling, trying to do just one more thing), some if it is because of a desire to do things (I want to teach that class or see that friend, or go for that hike). Yet when normal daily tasks start to feel like they take a herculean effort to complete, I begin to recognize the burn out I have been suppressing making its way back into the limelight. (Just keeping it real here, I too am just humaning through this life perfectly imperfect) It is in these periods of burn out that I feel the farthest from my magic and yet somehow(almost paradoxically) that little spark is making itself known through the simplest of things. The crow that I am suddenly having a conversation with on the street, the little tit mouse that seems to be chatting it up with my cat through the window, the most incredible breathtaking sunrise, the sound of the wind both alone and with the accompaniment of rain. Deep vivid dreams, prophetic visions, intuitive knowings loud as the sound of a voice in my ear. Messages from the dead popping in through symbol and sound and story. All of these energies have been swirling in tandem with my tired. . And I’m listening and feeling my way through the information. Rest will come. Of this I’m certain. But for now I’m letting the magic hold me and buoy me as I intentionally make a space for it to grow. A Book Recommendation Back in December a friend shared a book with me. I began listening to it at the time. I was taken by its beauty and wisdom and the story telling within. I was mesmerized. Then somehow halfway through I got distracted. This last week I’ve been listening again and am almost done (will likely finish it today on my rainy morning run). The book is called “Take Back the Magic-conversations with the unseen world by Perdita Finn” It weaves our connection with the dead into the day to day in a truly beautiful and inspiring way. Collective Comfort This week on Tuesday my new circle was gathering and I was exhausted. I was to lead the night and had my plan in hand (literally typed up and printed so I didn’t forget anything). We hadn’t been together for a time after some canceled groups and to be honest I didn’t want to go. (Because tired). But I did, I showed up and I am so happy that I was there. Being in community is such a powerful healing experience. Even after my last circle dissolved after 19 years, I knew I wouldn’t go long without finding a new one for this reason. I hear from women all the time who are looking for a group, a circle, a coven Women who are longing for connection. There are lots of groups and programs you can join online to find this, but I also think it’s really important to know how to make this for yourself. In my 20 years of working magic within a group, I have learned A LOT! I created ”Community Crafting for Covens and Circles” to share this knowledge with you, I’ll be teaching this hour and a half class on March 8th and you are invited to join me, and receive the tools to bring your vision of a circle or coven into being. You can learn more and register here Spring Circle This Winter I tried something new and offered a 6 session Circle to carry us through the coldest and darkest months. It has honestly been a delightful and really nourishing process offering participants magical practices and community. I’ll be continuing this connection with the Spring Circle. This, like the Winter Circle, will offer 6 circles plus invitations to two seasonal rituals. You can register here And finally, the Summer Retreat awaits. Come weave spells beneath the stars and the limbs of the Oak and Bay. Gather Witches around the fire and discover the messages of the land, the power of your voice and the wisdom of your inner knowing. June 7-9th (plus for those of you arriving in town early, I’ll be camping the 6th as well if you’d like to join me). More information can be found here The moon hung as a heavy crescent in the sky this morning. A large vessel suspended and holding the stars and planets and cosmos in her curve.
Even as the sun rose and the broken clouds became pale pink around their edges, she hung there, a reminder perhaps, that letting go, that releasing, makes space for the universe to inside to shine even brighter. It is not yet Spring. There are 6 more weeks more to go before the Equinox arrives, yet all around I feel a the quickening below the surface. Part of me wants to leap forward to dive into the possibility that Spring brings, but another part, a stronger part, wants to continue to rest into the gently warming Winter sun, the intermittent rains and winds and retreat into the still quiet of myself. I want to dream. Today as I ran through the mud and hopped over broken branches and toppled trees (not as graceful as it sounds) I felt that dreaming self inside. She imagined all sorts of things, snippets of story and song birthed into the incubator of body, ready to be acknowledged but not yet seen, spoken or shared. Today I spoke with the squirrels and woodpeckers, the hawks and vultures, and even to the random swan and they whispered back, reminding me that rest can come in so many ways and that being cradled in the arms of the wild is one of them. What are you dreaming beneath the waning moon Wise One? What are you feeling as the earth begins to stir? What possibilities are drifting in, perhaps not ready to be shared, but making themselves known? What is the vessel that is you holding through this second half of the Winter? In my muddy adventures this morning I ran through the campground we will be gathering at for our Summer Retreat. I could vision the space as it will be then, tents pitched, fire cracking, altar spread out and growing with each day. I could hear us singing together and eating together. I could imagine the rituals unfolding and the alchemy of our gathering shifting the very vibration of the air. The retreat is scheduled for June 7-9th here in Sonoma county California. I have also reserved the space for the 6th, so if you come early, you are welcome to camp the extra night with us. Learn more and register here There is so much growing now behind the scenes and waiting to be seen in the sun. Stay tuned. |
Emily Morrison MA, MFTArchives
August 2024
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